1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle control device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various methods of restarting an engine when restarting the engine stopped while a vehicle is driven are conventionally suggested. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-16356 discloses the technology to restart by ignition starting of the engine when a stopping position of a piston of the engine is within a predetermined appropriate range and to assist the restart of the engine by driving a starter motor when this is outside the predetermined appropriate range.
However, when the engine is frequently stopped and restarted during travel, the number of times to restart the engine by driving the starting device such as the starter motor increases and usage frequency of the starting device increases. When the usage frequency of the starting device increases, a load on the starting device increases and a lifetime of the starting device might be short.
Therefore, as a method of restarting without using the starting device, there is a method so-called push starting to start injection of fuel and ignition while increasing a speed of the engine by transmitting torque of a drive wheel to a crankshaft of the engine. However, in the restarting method using the push starting, decelerating acceleration (deceleration G) occurs on the vehicle, so that a driver might feel uncomfortable, and drivability might be deteriorated.